The Damned Lot
by Lukie-kun
Summary: Given another chance to live, would you make different choices? Spy-Fi Evangelion alternate reality fic with a high school setting featuring the majority of Evangelion characters.
1. Morning Has Indeed Broken

**Synopsis:**

**The story takes place in an alternate reality where the three main characters (Shinji, Rei and Asuka) are no longer needed to battle the Angels and are instead simply teenagers in a distant high school. Misato is one of the favourite teachers of the school with many rumours floating around about her dating co-eds. Gendo Ikari is the much-feared principal who seems to have a secret agenda of his own. Spy-Fi flick with many twists and reveals contained therein. All major characters will be introduced within the first ten chapters.**

**Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters are the property of Gainax. Rating:** **PG-13.**

* * *

**Morning Has Indeed Broken**

"Get up you idiot, we're going to be late," the girl shouted, standing at the foot of Shinji's bed and gazing down at the practically lifeless body below her. How lazy could one boy be?

He jumped out of bed and stumbled about the place, not realising that his duvet had dropped to the floor.

"Ew, you stupid pervert! I didn't mean that you should get that up." Before he knew it, she had slapped him straight across the chops.

"What the hell was that for, Asuka? It's not like I can help it. I am a man, you know. Maybe you should knock first," he said, cupping his cheek in consolation.

But she was off on a tangent already. She had completely ignored what he had said and had turned away. Shinji had been forced out of a world of dreaming – a Neverland of infinite pleasure – by a fiery wench with an attention span of a two-month-old.

"This room is a complete pigsty!" She used a nearby pencil to pick up some of the clothes and inspect them curiously. "How are you ever going to get a girlfriend with a room like this?"

Shinji ignored her question. He was, by now, very red in the face.

"Honestly Shinji, sometimes I don't know what you would do without me," she said under her breath, spinning round in hope of gaining praise or adulation. Either would do.

"Be free from your constant torment."

"What did you say, you baka? Honestly, you-you ungrateful pig. If it wasn't for me you'd never get out of bed in the morning. I am gonna make you regret that." Asuka motioned towards Shinji with her right arm drawn up into the air. "Don't forget who defeated the legendary Angels all by herself, Mr. Ikari. You would not like to get on my bad side."

"There's a good side?"

He was waiting for another slap when she suddenly twisted and sped out of the room in a rage.

'What a head case.'

Shinji tucked his shirt into his jeans. Although he was amused that he had somehow managed to get into a fight with Asuka right at the start of the day, he questioned why she hadn't slapped him. A humiliating public beating now seemed more than likely. He looked around his room and pondered at the clothes that furnished his bedroom floor. Some piles were beginning to emit an odour not unlike one of his mother's cats.

"Mom," Shinji yelled, looking around to see which room his mother was hiding in.

"I'm in here, son."

Shinji spun around and headed towards the kitchen.

"Mom, I'm going to be late tonight home tonight, okay?" He looked around cautiously to see if there were any more cats around. Why did she keep bringing in strays when she knew he had allergies? Another woman who's trying to kill me.

"Ok dear, you go on now. You don't want to be late again. I can't keep pretending that pile of late slips under your bed doesn't exist!"

It was official: mothers knew everything. "Umm, Mom?" Shinji queried.

"Yes, dear?" She tilted her head and admired the hand imprint on the young boy's face.

"Could you somehow try and get rid of some of the cats. They're really sweet an' all but umm we've got more than twenty cats and everybody thinks that you're some crazy cat lady who never leaves the house!"

"Oh son, don't make me laugh. Now scoot and have a good day at school." She turned back and he could tell she was already off in a different Neverland, one filled with unlimited feline companions. Shinji loved his mother but she had gotten more and more unstable after the divorce.

"Shinji," a voice boomed through the house and footsteps approached the kitchen. There was no trace of the earlier anger in her face. That was the thing with Asuka: she changed mood more than money changed hands.

She dragged him out of the kitchen by his ear. "Leave your poor mother alone. Bye Mrs Ikari."

"Another ordinary day," he muttered to himself.

* * *

After a series of episodes - one involving running down a shortcut with a set of rabid pit bulls in pursuit and another involving Asuka's hair extensions getting caught in a shop door – the accident prone duo arrived at school. Walking into their usual hangout room, Asuka and Shinji could not believe their eyes: the room was not full to the brim as per usual but devoid of life. They both looked at each other and Asuka glanced down at her Pucca watch.

"What?" she bellowed as she caught sight of the time. They were half an hour early. Shinji stared at Asuka and Asuka stared at Shinji. Neither really knew whose fault it was. Asuka couldn't bear missing out on an opportunity to shout at Shinji and he guessed from the expression on her face that either she was going to implode and cause one hell of a mess or that another argument would ensue. The more probable event occurred.

"I just cannot believe that one boy can be so ignorant!"

Shinji tried to look doe-eyed but failed miserably.

"Taking a shortcut where I nearly got maimed for life so that you wouldn't miss a minute of catch-up with your friends and we wind up getting here so early that all I have for company is a sorry meatbag lifeform like you!"

Shinji tried to withdraw a little, like a spider tries to flee when it thinks its predator is no longer looking, but Asuka mirrored his every step, a superior player in the game of cat and mouse. The passionate red-head was just getting started.

"Firstly, you are asleep when I come round for our usual morning rendezvous today, which wouldn't make me so angry if it wasn't for your _complete_ disregard for my effort every morning. Do you know how I strive to arrive on time every weekday morning, Shinji? Huh? Do you?" She stretched out her index finger and prodded him up against a nearby radiator. "I get no thanks for-"

"But Asuka, I do realise. Honest I-"

"Do you know how rude that is? Interrupting people is another one of your many, many faults. And-"

The door swung open and in poured the usual gang. Asuka scuttled away, not wanting to be seen investing this much time in Shinji Ikari. Their fight would have to be put on hiatus until later.

Asuka and Shinji had a varied set of friends. She firmly belonged with the popular girls and had no qualms about being placed in that category despite those who may presume she was a pretty husk with no substance. She liked meeting new people and expanding her large circle of friends; Shinji, on the other hand, preferred to know as few people as possible and did his best to repel those who sought his company. Avoiding human conversation came as a gift to him and he liked having a more select group of friends. All of this notwithstanding, he could put up a facade from time to time, though this usually took effort and Shinji generally despised doing anything that required effort; he was the epitome of laziness.

Banter between friends meant that nobody had noticed the door had opened once again. A petite girl with short blue hair caught Shinji's eye. Unusual red eyes, searching yet weary, stared back at him and did not look away, so much so that he found he had to break the mutual gaze first. Deciding to go against his personality and talk to her, an all too familiar shriek froze his feet to the floor.

"Oh hi!" Asuka said in transit to the unflinching, blue-haired girl. Must be a strange one, ja?

'So Asuka's awoken from her daydream to realise that someone besides herself exists,' he thought. Her shrillness echoed in Shinji's mind and he wondered if she had a different type of scream for every occasion. Happy scream, sad scream, the infamous angry scream. More banshee wail than scream, really.

"My name is Asuka Langley Sohryu. Charmed, huh? I'll be escorting you round our lovely school. I'm sure you'll find yourself right at home here. Do you know anyone?"

The girl blinked at Asuka. "I'm new here," she said.

Asuka thought that she might be a little insane. Oh well, she didn't really care. She was fresh meat to mould. How rude not to give her name in return. Hmm, will have to teach manners to poor, uncivilised girl. And those shoes are an abomination on all things Mary Jane. "And your name would be?"

"Rei," she replied and then walked out of the room. She lingered for a moment and looked back at Shinji, her eyes examining his body with a doctor's precision.

Asuka wanted to rip off one of Rei's ugly shoes and beat her to death with it then and there but then what would the girls think?

Rei smiled and walked towards what she believed to be the science block, judging from the gas taps that were visible from a downstairs window.

'What kind of a name is _Rei_ anyway?' Asuka thought.

'I wonder if she's in any of my classes,' Shinji thought.

"He'll do just nicely," Rei said aloud.


	2. Love

**Love**

They stared at one another from across the laboratory. Occasionally their eyes would meet and Shinji would blush a little. Whilst Shinji looked at her with interest, it was almost as if Rei saw straight through him, her eyes concentrating on a quality beneath the veneer. She appeared to hold no feelings of shame for such obvious staring.

From afar, Asuka watched them, mulling over the situation to herself privately.

'That Shinji Ikari has always been no good to me. I still remember his fascination with that goody two-shoes Hikari.' Asuka smiled to herself. 'He was nothing but a desperate flirt with her that one time during French class. He had a little, je ne sais pas, crush on her, perhaps? And as soon as some newer and more distant girl came along he fell completely in 'love' with her instead.'

Asuka groaned internally. She hated that word: _love_. Love like that emotion her mother had for a lifeless doll. She knew that love could be easily manipulated inside a person's mind or toyed with until love had no connotations of affection left. It was the ultimate mental illness. She hated to think that such a bond could ever live to control two people's lives so utterly and be so impenetrable to forces in the outside world.

'What does Rei have that I don't?' she thought, her hands folded under her chin to support her head. 'All the other boys live for my figure. I've spent countless nights planning and co-ordinating my outfits for the next day. I put so much effort in and that fool never notices.' Her thoughts were interrupted by the booming voice of Mr Fox, their bespectacled chemistry teacher whose weight fluctuations altered week to week from chubby to morbidly obese.

"Alright class, I'm going to need all of you to pair up with someone else. I'd much prefer it if you just worked with the person sitting next to you."

A unified guffaw erupted from within the classroom, with everyone scrambling to sit next to their desired partner. Students were seated alphabetically and, as luck would have it, no-one got on with the people near to them in the register. Call it an unfortunate coincidence of high school.

Rei pottered over to Shinji's desk, her footsteps quiet and uniformed.

"Would it be okay if I worked with you, Mr Ikari?"

"Erm sure, I mean that would be—" he halted himself, not wanting to appear stupid for the umpteenth time in front of new company. "I'd like that."

She glared at the vanilla-haired girl sitting next to Shinji and she quickly got up, scuttling away like a tiny cockroach fearing the presence of man.

"Aren't you going to ask how I knew your name, Shinji? I thought someone as curious as you would be quick to ask such an obvious question." Her eyes followed the boy coming round to hand out lab equipment.

"Well, yes, I had been wondering how you knew. I mean, I thought you were new here."

"I am. My parents and I have just moved here. My father works as an engineer for a local water company. My mother as a teacher at a primary school." Her delivery was matter-of-fact with just the bare amount of information. "I know your name, Shinji, because I've spoken with your," she chose her words carefully, "principal."

His eyes faced down. "Oh, right."

"He's a very intriguing man, is he not?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Well, nevertheless, he told me to speak to you if I had any queries about school. I do. I'm having trouble finding where I should go for break next. Maybe, if it's alright with you, I could spend some time with you and get to know your school a little better," her face warming to form a quiet smile.

Asuka had overheard the entire conversation, of course. If there was new gossip being discussed in a crowded, noisy hallway during break, Asuka could move in, reconnoitre and retreat like a spy into the night. Hearing a conversation two rows away was child's play. By now, the veins on her temples had become bulbous, her eyes had dilated to reveal the built-up fury inside, and her fingernails were becoming blunt stumps after carving 'I HATE REI' into the wooden desk in front of her; if anthropomorphised, the desk would have surely been beaten to death by her all-consuming rage. Asuka was pissed.

"I can't believe that you think that you can just come in here and steal Shinji away from me. That man, no, that _boy_, is mine to control, missy, and I will not have some snivelling, domineering, bad dye job bitch come in here and take him away from me!" She paused to breathe, her one weakness. She had outdone herself again and stunned the entire class into silence. It was not unbeknownst to Asuka that she had this effect on people.

'Wait.' Her eyes passed from left to right. She repeated this process again but slower in order to digest it all. Her eyes glanced down at her watch. The entire class had left five minutes ago when the bell sounded for break.

"Scheiße!"


	3. A Cool Response

**A Cool Response**

Asuka wheezed uncontrollably as she hunched over, hands on knees. She had searched the cantina, the science block corridor, Shinji's tutor room and the I.T. department's computer rooms and it had exhausted her. She gained her composure, adjusted the nerve clips in her hair and walked over to the patch of grass opposite the R.E. block. This is where she found them at last.

She initiated conversation with a semi-familiar group of girls with whom she could pass time talking to whilst secretly listening to her targets.

"Oh hi girls, I am so pleased I found you! Shion, your hair looks fantastic, that bob cut really suits your hair, ja?" She released a dazzling smile at the bewildered girls. They did not expect such kindness from Asuka Langley Soryu, practically the most popular girl in school. They talked at her, her ears tuning in to another conversation.

"Well, we usually hang out here a lot, just on this steps. It's a nice area and it's away from all the other years. If you're more active you could play sports on the playing fields over there," Shinji's hand pointing in front to the distant green, his gaze purely on Rei.

Rei Ayanami listened intently, her sponge-like mind trying to absorb it all. It had been a long day.

"I think you've shown me around enough for today, thank you." She tilted her eyes down to feign disinterest. She could sense Asuka's basilisk gaze even if Shinji did not. "I'd quite like some time by myself for now, Shinji, if that's alright."

"No, of course—" he rose to leave.

"I will leave. Thank you for showing me around."

"Not at all," he blushed. "I'll see you in class tomorrow then."

She walked away with a silent confidence despite the phoenix-haired one's eyes on her back.

Asuka realised she'd been gawping. "Hahahahaha, that is sooo funny! You are completely right. Oh, you just crack me up," she said, flapping her hands in an overzealous motion. The group of girls looked at one another, slightly bemused. "So Shinji," she said, disengaging herself and caging him in against the concrete wall, "have fun with your new, most favourite person in the whole wide world, did you?"

"I was only talking to her, Asuka. To be honest-"

"Yes?"

"It was hard to do with you looking at us all the time".

The hand hit his face before he had even finished.

"Don't you give me that attitude, mister. I've seen how you've been ogling her all day. It's all the same with you teenage boys, isn't it? A stray hand here, a slip of the tongue there. You should just really learn to keep your overbearing emotions in check, ja? JAAAA?"

He wasn't really sure if giving an answer would stop him from getting another slap but he knew his choices were limited.

"I was only talking to her, Asuka. What is it with you? Why do you have to be so demanding? I'm the one with overbearing emotions, am I? You're the one who's always breathing down my neck when I'm sure a girl like you could be getting action off any of the other guys in this school. So why not go find one of them and leave me in peace?"

The bottom lip of her mouth dropped. The girls around them quickly dispersed, sensing it could get uglier. Besides, they had some major rumour fodder to spread around.

"I'm sorry, Shinji."

"You are?"

"I'm not going to repeat it, baka, so listen up. I'll give you the space that you need. I'm just protective of you. We've been through a lot together, you know that. The world has changed a lot since you and I met and what we know, well, we have shared burdens now. It's not through jealousy that I stick close to you." She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, not _just_ jealousy. Give me a break." Her cheeky laughter filled the air. "I just wanted you to know that you should watch your back. We still haven't remembered everything. Let's just look out for one another."

He nodded at her. This was the first time they had spoken about what they had discovered weeks ago at the dance. Asuka and Shinji had lived very different lives apart from one another publicly; their shared walks to school each morning a relic from when their families were friends. Yet they had become strangely drawn to one another again and sought each other out privately. Memories from a time before had flooded back. Asuka had remembered a life of diligent training to become the best Eva pilot; Shinji a segregated existence with a distant and powerful father, not far from this reality. The whole experience had been strenuous and they had not discussed it since they had used the cover of the dance to meet in secret.

"I think it would be best if we met tonight. Can you skip your private tutoring tonight?" he said.

"Of course, we have a lot to discuss. Shinji, I…"

"Yes?"

"I wanted to thank you for talking to me that day after my mother..." her voice trailed off. "I don't remember exactly what you told me, but it wasn't just some clichéd 'be strong'. It meant a lot to me."

"I'm sure you would've done the same for me,"

'Crap crap crap, why couldn't he just tell her what he wanted to say?' he thought.

"Well, the emotional side of me is now locked away once more." She punched him jokingly in the arm.

"Owwww!" he howled and rubbed his arm frantically.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to rub the bruise out. I heard if you rub fast enough you won't get bruised."

"That is such a stupid thing to say. Did your Mom tell you that? Your crazy Mom who probably heard it from her feline companions."

"My Mom is not crazy! Take that back you she-witch." Shinji realised his words and then fled across the field with Asuka in hot pursuit.

From the third floor of a building adjacent to the grass, a man watched the scene unfold. He took the glasses from his face, held them up to the light and began to clean them with the corner of his shirt. Rei took them from his hand and placed them back on his face.

"Are we done here?" she said.

"I think you should step things up a bit. I want to know exactly what he knows."

"How you can be sure he knows anything?"

"If I'm beginning to recall things then he is too. I wish to know exactly what he knows. Remember: Yui started to recall details about her past life. I've solved that issue for now. Should the same thing happen again with her son, some..." he paused, "alterations would have to be made."

"I understand, sir. So what do you suggest?"

"Go over to his house tonight. Isolate him if necessary. Then appeal to his more, how should I say this, male senses?" He laughed devilishly, relishing a new challenge. As if managing a high school would ever be enough for the former NERV commander. He had seen a vision of his former glorious past and it had elated him to know that he alone was destined to rule.

"I promise to do whatever you wish. Maybe we'll have some fun of our own when I get back?" She bit her bottom lip apprehensively.

He clasped her chin and drew her in for an embrace before stopping her with a hand on her chest. "We'll see." Just a tease.

She turned from him and left the room with a sense of ardent desire - the first in quite some time. Now to deliver on her promise.


	4. Cipher

**Cipher (n)**

1)_ zero_

2) _no value; a nonentity_

3) _a cryptic system of codes_

4) _the key to the aforementioned system_

* * *

The afternoon sun beat down on the concrete playground, waiting for the bell to announce the teenagers' freedom. Ringing in the corridors came and went, soon replaced by the frenzy of schoolchildren hurrying to escape their daytime captors.

"Asuka, wait up," Shinji said, his voice speeding forward to the scarlet-haired girl in front. She turned.

"I'm going to be late. My grandmother doesn't like it when I'm late home so move your keister."

He ran to catch up with her and they exited the playground via the back gate.

Rei watched them leave. They were the last.

'What is it like to have a friend – a true friend – and to miss their presence, the familiarity of their face, when they are gone?' She fixed her eyes on their figures in the distance.

'You are a strange one, Shinji. You are nothing like your father; you are a spotless soul. But you ache for that bond even though you have so much more with others.'

Rei pressed her hand up against the window. The glass felt cool against her skin. She knew she had places to be tonight and that she would have to be getting home soon. She lingered there awhile, gathering her thoughts, before leaving the school to walk home alone. She approached a detached house. The smell of recently cut grass wafted up her nose. She entered the house by the front door and clambered up the long staircase to reach her room, flopping down on the double bed. She pulled the floral duvet up and around her, a paternal hug.

"Honey, is everything okay?" the female voice said from the landing below.

"I'm fine, Mom."

"I've cooked your tea for tonight and it's in the fridge, okay?. It's your favourite: lasagne. You just need to reheat it. I'll be back before nine, I promise."

"Okay, thank youuuuuuu," she extended the final vowel sound mockingly.

She was so bored with her Mary Jane mother. She knew her routine off by heart. In fact, as she understood it, a monkey could be programmed to carry out the same tasks. Get out of bed by 6:30 A.M., wake her father up (if he was even there), into the shower for ten minutes, rouse Rei by 6:50 at the latest, and cook breakfast – eggs sunny side up three days a week with two pieces of toast per person; pancakes with chocolate chip smiley faces and strawberries for eyes and ears with a large glass of milk on the other four days. Monotony.

Her father was almost always away for work. She longed for him to be a father figure; a voice of authority and strength. If she looked deeper within her mother, past the immaculate make-up, the neck adorned with pearls, she would find a deep sadness and a longing for the renewal of companionship she had once held with her husband. Rei's thoughts, however, focused on the men in her life.

She stood in front of the mirror. She wished it would come alive to touch her as she tried on her clothes for the evening. A flash of satin. A flicker of lace. She hid the pink corset under her ordinary clothes, checking to see if it was visible to the naked eye.

"Seems alright to me. This is for you, Shinji. Let's see if you're as much of a man as your father." She grinned, flashing her teeth. Would Gendo be proud? She picked up her make-up bag from the vanity and placed it in her handbag along with her phone. Her hand hovered over a set of keys.

"Just take them, you might need to use them if he's not home. I want you to place these listening devices in the areas marked on the blueprint. Make sure that you bug the entire house." She remembered how he had gripped her shoulder forcefully, "Take this gun. By the time you leave here you will have remembered how to use it." He had been correct but she had dumped the gun in a shoe box in her wardrobe, questioning why he had given it to her in the first place. Why were men so fascinated with guns? They were boring to her.

She felt a weak connection to Shinji Ikari, as if something stirred within her to go to him, to tell him everything she knew about his father. Her relationship with Gendo had gone far beyond the normal realms of the father-daughter interaction he had promised her. How had he manipulated her into this? He'd shown her scenes that were vivid, memories from another life. He had promised her answers to her questions but expected her to comply until then. She knew he used her as a plaything, a mere puppet, but she could not disobey him; she had longed for the moment when a proper man came in to her life.

Gendo had met her in private weeks ago, making an instant impression. Intelligent, confident, attractive even if sometimes intimidating. Suddenly her father had been offered a new position in Tokyo and her mother seemed animated at the idea of a fresh start. Rei had thought her display of emotion odd at the time.

The bright lights of the city had dazzled them, an endless supply of flashing neon signs right before her very eyes. The fast pace of the metropolis was a far cry from the family's rural beginnings. Still to this day Rei would walk out away from her suburb into the depths of the breathing giant as to stir it from its slumber. As she walked it began to reveal itself before her eyes - the tall, sturdy limbs of skyscrapers; two rivers coursing like blood; a bloom of cherry trees to sit atop its head.

Tonight the city would be her master, leading her onwards through its bowels to her destination: the abode of Shinji Ikari.


	5. Even Monkeys Fall From Trees

**Even monkeys fall from trees**

(猿も木から落ちる)

Shinji wolfed down the kasutera, its spongy crumbs littering the sides of his mouth like food on the sidewalk, longing to return to the earth. From across the room Asuka was sat on the only bit of visible carpet that remained in the room. Everything else was covered by clothes. She scoffed the cake into her mouth in a similar fashion and loud munching noises filled the room until their eyes met, each presented with a reflection of their own slovenliness.

Silence.

"Ewwwww, you can't eat like that, Shinji," her words garbled by the cake in her mouth. "I will show you-," she swallowed, "how you should eat like a gentleman would. You know, the kind of men that get girlfriends and shower daily." He scowled at her but she ignored it and drew a large piece of cake to her mouth.

"You must draw the cake to your mouth and delicately bite into it, like so." Her 'delicate bite' resembled the death-grip of a lioness and he was sure her jaw had dislocated to fit the enormous slab of cake in. "And now…you just…verrrrrry….mmmmm…slowly," she struggled to control her delight, "try to….zolow…"

"What was that?" he said.

"You try...to zwolow," she repeated, the words still muffled by the presence of so much cake.

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?" he said, teasingly.

"SWALLLLLLOW! I said _swallow_. You can't hear or something? You're suddenly deaf?"

"Asuka, in case you didn't notice, that was the last piece of cake."

"So? I'm a guest in your house. Guests should be treated with respect," she said smiling, a symbolic halo appearing above her head.

"Well I was _still_ hungry. Let's check the kitchen out."

It was at this time that Asuka looked around. The piles of clothes surrounded her and she was unable to reach the door without touching them. Had they moved in when she, distracted by the ever-so-tasty cake, had been unawares? The very thought of placing one of her clean, perfect, beautiful, shiny, NAILPOLISHED feet on a pair of his dirty, presumably soiled boxers paralysed her with fear. "How can I get out of here?" she whinged. "Oh Shinji, please carry me. It involves touching me!"

He left the room.

"Come back here! Grr, rejecting a girl's advances. What are you, stupid?"

He hurried downstairs to the fridge. His entire brain was consumed with the thought of eating more food. He opened the fridge. Mmm, fresh sushi his mother had made a few hours ago.

*Munch munch chomp chomp*

Then onto the cupboards, the smell of Shaoxing wine and ginger overwhelming him. He peered at the hazelnut Pocky.

*Crunch omnomnomnom crunch*

His belly groaned to tell him he was at maximum capacity.

The sound of the doorbell resonated throughout the house, jolting Shinji's sense of embarrassment into life. He quickly brushed the crumbs off his t-shirt and headed for the door.

'Who is calling at this hour?' he thought.

The firm and commanding voice of Asuka came down from above, "Shinji, who is that? You know we have things to talk about. Get rid of them!" Eating noises resumed so it seemed Asuka had found some food up there.

Shinji opened the door to find Rei standing there, reaching into her purse.

"Oh hi Rei, what are you doing here?"

The sound of Shinji's voice startled her, "Yes, I mean, hello Shinji." She regained her composure. "I just came round to see if I could talk to you about a few things. I presume you're alone, are you not?" She popped her head in through the door and looked around.

"Well actually-" he began.

"Oh that's good then, I'm so glad I caught you alone," she said, stopping him in his tracks. She gently pushed him backward and stepped inside, handing him her coat.

"I don't know where to put it. Could you help me?" Her voice lingered and her eyes trailed down his body inquisitively. A muffled noise came from upstairs, the sound of someone falling over.

"Oh, you have company?"

"It's just Asuka, remember her from earlier?" he said as he took the coat and placed it on the rack inside the hallway cupboard.

"Yes, of course," her voice lowering.

"Don't you want me to take your gloves?"

"No, my hands are cold. I just came to have a private conversation with you, if that's okay. I understand it must seem intrusive of me to just barge in here. After all, we hardly know one another."

"Well, it's just that we, I, well—"

"I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

"Between Asuka and me? No, no." Liar. "Is it okay if I just go tell Asuka you're here? It'll probably—"

"That's fine," she said, her interruption indicative of her dominance.

Shinji dashed up the stairs faster than a puppy trying to keep pace with its owner, always in a hurry.

Rei surveilled the ground floor of the house, moving through the rooms quickly. She placed various kinds of listening devices, from imitation bugs that, if found, would seem to be nothing more than dead insects, to highly developed recorders that would blend seamlessly into the lapels of coats. She crossed each successful plant off as she went, bugging all the major parts of the floor listed on the blueprint. She was not quite sure where her covert abilities had come from but was excited by the sudden rush of adrenaline she experienced as she carried them out.

She was just affixing an additional microscopic bug within Shinji's watch - found on the kitchen table - when a hand clasped her shoulder and spun her round.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Rei froze, a sliver of panic running down her back like liquid fire. Caught.

"Well? Why don't you just leave?"

Rei noticed that Asuka's eyes were firmly on her and not on her hands. She placed the one containing the watch behind her back and emptied her hand on to the table. Had Asuka seen her? The blue maiden stared at her, "I had come to see Shinji. I didn't know you were an item."

"What? We're not. Never ever think that. Shinji Ikari and I are just friends. That's more than I can say for you."

"I see. And am I not allowed to be friends with him, too?"

"Friends don't barge in here unannounced," the redhead growled, protective of her cub.

"I was invited in. I will be quick to leave as soon as I speak to Shinji. Now please," she moved past Asuka who turned to see her walk out of the room. Mouth ajar, such actions would have easily provoked Asuka's wrath by now except Rei was the picture of calm and she could not start an argument over trivialities. Not with a stranger anyway.

Rei's feet walked her up the stairs, her mind elsewhere. 'Shinji, I just want to tell you about your father. Do you know your father? I know you care for him inside your heart despite the divorce but do you know him? I connected with him. It was the strangest thing. Have you been going through these flashbacks? It's like your brain is on fire. Just for an instant. Just for a moment. And then, before you know it, you're back in your body. Like waking up from a dream but I swear it was real.' The mist that was her mind cleared and she found herself at the top of the stairs. She saw the boy looking at a dresser she presumed was his mother's and traced the outline of his face with her fingertips.

"Shinji, I'm here now," she said. She saw a look of longing before he could hide it.

"Oh, please come in. Don't mind all the stuffed cats. You're lucky the real ones aren't around haha." He smiled an empty smile.

"I've been here before. This all seems so familiar to me."

"Excuse me?"

"It's nothing, I just wanted you to tell you," she paused.

"Yes?"

"You don't know your father very well, do you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"There are no pictures of you and him around the house."

"My mother won't have any of his pictures on display since the divorce. She says he doesn't look the same to her any more."

"What do you think she means?"

He looked at the dresser. It had been moved from their first house. "Too many bad memories. Maybe too many good ones. All in all, too much to remind her of the past." His eyes were staring at hers again. "That's what I think, anyway."

"Memories are not the most trustworthy barometers," she said. "I think you..." she trailed off.

"Yes?"

"You-you." Say it. If you're going to say it, say it now. "You have a very lovely house here." Liar. That's not what you wanted to say. But how can I reveal to him that his own father his plotting against him?

What she knew was so little, so minuscule, that she didn't think he'd believe her anyway. She would be the crazy new girl and that would not be a good footing for gaining his trust. Or his friendship. "Do you think you'd like to show me around a little bit more?"

"Sure, I'll just go put some socks on. My feet are freezing." He left to enter his room. "Oh shit, I have to search through this mess?" he said, looking at the floor.

Whilst he was distracted, she planted the surveillance equipment in the smoke alarm in his mother's room and moved to the bathroom to place another. She peered at the mirror, her corset was peeking through. The mirror groaned.

'Not tonight,' she thought. There was no desire to conquer Shinji; no will to take his sacred prize away.

She opened the mirror cabinet up and placed a highly sensitive device within. It was during this time, this fraction of a second, that fate stepped in. The crimson girl saw her tinker and tailor and raised her a soldier and spy. And what the hell was that silk number lurking under her clothes? She went to gasp, to scream like only she could, but caught herself short, instead learning from the reserved girl to control her emotions. Asuka watched and noted her actions, desperately trying to be as smart as she made out she was. She had to figure out what she had witnessed and darted down the hall to the spare room to quiet herself.

Shinji reappeared, feet clad in intriguingly multi-coloured woollen socks. Rei swore she saw a stain.

"I think I'll just show myself out actually."

"Didn't you want to see it all?"

"Well, I've taken a look myself. This house is splendid. I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she bolted down the stairs and out the house. She ran into the cold night, the pallor of her skin now flushed with deceit. Gendo was wrong - she was not ready. That man pretended like he held all the cards but then why was she doing his dirty work? She would not play into his hand so willingly next time.

"But what about your coat?" Shinji shouted. His words carried on the chilly breeze but the blue-haired girl was gone. No more questions and no more answers.


	6. Crutch

**Crutch**

"Today's lesson, class, is a very important one," she said authoritatively, trying to quiet down the noisy group of students. "Everyone shut the hell up!"

Like lemmings, they fell back into line.

"Good. Everybody line up against the whiteboard!" she shrieked.

They immediately formed a tightly-packed line; the students at either end squishing their bodies in.

"Now…" she eyed them up, "turn around to face the board! No peeking."

They followed her orders again. The sound of unpacking from cardboard was heard.

"Okay, everybody turn around." On top of her purple hair was a cute, spherical party hat and on all of their desks lay a white sheet to cover the contents below.

She winked at them slyly. "Did you think that Misato, I mean…Miss Katsuragi," she giggled, "would not throw a party on your last history lesson of spring term? Hmmmmm?" She questioned the class with her waggling index finger. "Then you do not know Miss Katsuragi! Ahahahahahaha," she laughed manically and ripped the sheets off of two of the nearest tables, revealing a spread of party food, place names of every student in the class, and cards addressed to each of them. From beneath the white, translucent envelope could be read "Good luck with your revision!"

The students bawled with delight. This is why everyone in the entire school loved to be in Misato's history group. It wasn't because she taught them well - oh no, she was a truly complacent teacher who very satisfied with giving them homework on topics she had not begin to teach them. Rather, being in her history group meant being the envy of everyone else in school as she was genuinely kind to them, giving advice to the girls and an occasional flash to the boys. Misato was an attention-loving child living in a regressed adult's body and they loved her for it.

Everyone had an enjoyable time, eating the sweets she had prepared for them and dancing to their favourite songs once they were finished. She always knew how to show people a good time.

"You're welcome, Toji," she said, patting him on the head like a child, "now run along or you're going to be late for your next class."

"But, but, everyone else got a hug except me! That's not fair you know."

"Oh Toji, I didn't know I'd forgotten you," she squeezed him close to her and he relaxed beside her breasts.

"Oh Misato…" he gushed, his body filling with excitement.

"Now run along! Haha, you know a teacher has a lot of work to do, especially before exam time." She pushed him out of the door and he fell backward on to his rear.

"Ow," he said before she closed the door.

'She's nothing but a tease. But damn she's good,' he thought, peering down at the bulge. His hormones in overdrive, he skipped off giddily to tell the others.

On the other side, Misato pushed her back against the door, her hands massaging the back of her neck, a precursor to later in the evening.

'Just one more class left to teach,' she thought. Tonight she would be back to the sterile environment of _that_ building. She knew the routine off by heart. She would walk in, bouquet in hand, and place them on the table. She'd used the soap dispenser and wash her hands thoroughly, always thoroughly. The sign above the sink read '_Wash your hands to prevent_ _germs. __You_ _can safe lives." _ The irony was not lost on her. As she carried them to his room, steadily, she would beam at the men in white coats, no degree of trepidation worn on her face. She was glad to reach the room without being stopped. It meant that he was still there. Each time she would close her father's door and stand with her back up against it, the frame a physical support that would never leave her.

* * *

A couple of weeks had passed and the teenagers had settled back in to normal school life. Rei had become accustomed to the new school, beginning to enjoy Shinji and (even) Asuka's company.

"No no no, I don't think she likes you at all, Toji," Asuka nodded in disagreement. "I think she just plays you for a fool," she said and the other girls laughed and shook their heads like pawns.

"I just think she likes to have some fun with your poor little adolescent brain," Hikari said, poking his chest playfully.

He began to redden, "Well I think you're all just too stupid to see it. I have lots of desirable qualities. My brilliant physique, my wit and…"

"Your big head?" Rei added in.

"Grrr, no, my firm shoulder to cry on."

"What? This?" Asuka said, squeezing his shoulder. "Out of all of your characteristics you would pick your shoulders over, say, sense of humour or intelligence? I guess you really are dumb," she quipped, and the laughter rose up again. They continued to discuss the issue to each other.

"Well you," he turned quietly to Hikari. "Guess you feel smarter now you've been elected as Miss Class President." The fact that Hikari, one of the smartest and most accomplished girls in school, had been elected president over Toji was a no-brainer. She was the most organized out of all of them.

"Oh, are you jealous?"

"Me, jealous? Get real!"

"No, you've never been jealous. Ever though Shinji is clearly Misato's favourite," she jibed.

He raised his eyebrows, "Shinji? She just likes to flirt, that's all."

"Exactly."

"Damn," he groaned, "guess you got me there."

They laughed together. He had enjoyed getting to know Hikari Hokari ever since they ran against one another.

"Well I should be going," he said as he got up off the grass, using her head as support.

"Argh, you idiot."

"See you all later." He waved to the group and then moved away toward the gymnasium.

* * *

The day flew by fast. Misato walked over to his bed and drew up a chair.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Fine. Don't I look fine?"

"You're dying of pancreatic cancer, Dad. I doubt you're just '_fine_' "

"So you lot keep reminding me. What is it with you? Why can't you give your hard-working Dad a moment's peace for a change? Between you and your mother all I've had my entire life was endless questions. 'When are the bills going to be paid?' "

"Dad--"

" 'When's the grass going to be cut?' "

"Please don't--"

"What? Now that's she gone and I'm next you feel like you can interrupt me. I knew I should've been at home to discipline you."

"Well you never were," she said doggedly. "I am not going to spend the evening like this so hush." She got up and grabbed his pillow from behind it, fluffing it as she stood over him. She saw the Tarceva medication on the table. "What are these? The doctors should have all your medicine."

"I thought that nurse was giving me too many. I refused to take any more unless I can keep the meds by my bedside."

Peeling back the onion skin of her father's personality, past the esteemed layers of doctor and military man, the pattern that was visible throughout was stubbornness.

"Well, it's good to know you're still stupid as hell!"

"It's a family trait I'll have you know. Carried on my side of course."

She hugged him. After so long, a lifetime spent away from home, he had finally come back to her.

"Oh I can just see the Elysian Fields now! Get the hell off me, I'm not dead yet."

Beneath it all there was another level, a hidden core: father.

* * *


	7. The Stranger in the House

The Stranger in the House

**Editor's note**

- Remember that any spellings are based on the British English system! Also, Year Seven = the first year of high school in England.

- Please do note any misspelt words or ungrammatical parts in your reviews! Please do review as it will encourage me to keep writing more.

- I haven't had the time to update this due to University work, volunteering and a job but wanted to do so because of a message I received today noting me of the passing of one of my reviewers and Fanfiction friends, 94Saturn. When people pass away it makes you think about many different things. For me, it made me want to write - my one true passion that I put on the backburner far too much. I dedicate this chapter to you 94Saturn and may you rest in peace.

* * *

Spring break had come and gone and summer was in full swing. Most students spent breaks between exams idly lazing about on the chartreuse-coloured grass; some studied with a furrowed brow in the library, occasionally lifting their eyes up from their notes to look intently at the others laughing and playing games. Then there was Hikari Hokari.

"ARGH," she bawled, "how did I ever think I was going to manage this all by myself?" Hikari said as she sat down, massaging the back of her neck.

The principal had decided to throw one of the most elaborate open evenings the school had ever seen and Hikari, as class president, had been tasked in setting up the tables and decorations in the school gym. Her eyes inspected the room, pausing at the central tables.

"This crappy cupboard of a room has to fit two hundred people when it's barely comfortable for my aerobics class. Well, at least all the poncy MPs and "dig-na-ta-ries," she said, syllabifying as Gendo had so patronisingly done to her, "will see what a sorry state this school is in."

Such a woeful state did not suit Hikari, who employed her acerbic wit rarely and only when Asuka's absence demanded it. She decided this task would not beat her and carried herself around the room with even more spring in her step, stopping at tables to re-do the napkins.

Gendo watched from above, as was his habit. The small pokey office he stood in had been long forgotten, as was the trend with a school as old as this one. Dust clung to the shelves and hung down from the ceiling, moving to and fro from the draft. Students would glance up at the window and sometimes wonder who the room belonged to but such passing thoughts were quickly dismissed by the gossip of the day.

'How can some people have so much hope?' he thought as he watched her. He remembered when he was her age and how he had shied away from any responsibility.

"I know, it's sickening, isn't it?"

Gendo bolted his head round and raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you be at your allotment right now?"

"Oh, I'm touched. Fancy you thinking about how my tomatoes are doing," the tall, athletic man said, puffing out a ring of smoke from his mouth. "I never imagined you cared so much for the environment."

"I don't and take that out of your mouth. This is a public building, not a motel room. Though I suppose everything is a shade of grey to you these days. You reporters are all the same."

The man with the ponytail coolly withdrew the cigarette from his mouth and stubbed it on a nearby shelf. He approached Gendo and exhaled his last drag right into his face. Neither man flinched.

"I don't think what you've got planned is a shade of grey, my friend. I think it's resolutely black."

"All you're chasing is another stinker with this one, _friend_. I'm just trying to raise the school's profile and nothing more, though I don't suppose your type is known for checking facts these days, what with the trash you call news making the front page every day."

"I know you're up to something, Ikari. And I will get to the bottom of it."

'_That and a bottle of wine,'_ Gendo thought, smelling the alcohol on his breath.

"You really should lay off the red for a while. It's starting to give rise to your delusions," Gendo said.

"My daydreams involve busty blondes and late night hot tub action and I would be grateful if I could get to that again without my mind being on Gendo Ikari and his plans for world domination. Always with the world domination, Ikari. Are you trying to compensate for something?"

"Sadly, like many reporters, your tales reek of a self-indulgent imagination."

Two well-build men entered the already cramped room.

"Remove him but if he promises to behave himself like a good boy let him back in later. I trust you will return, Kaji. I'd hate for you to miss out on the inane tedium of this evening."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

* * *

Asuka and Shinji were neck-and-neck in a game of tennis. It would go down in legend as "_that _game". They had been playing for over an hour and each was exhausted but refusing to give up. Both had won a set but now it was Shinji's serve and he had faulted once.

"Shinji, dear, please try and hit the ball over the net next time. You'd be surprised at how much better the game will be if you could accompl-" The ball bounced hard onto her side of the court, and she performed a quick forehand just in time. "Schwanz! I was in the middle of talking."

"I know," he said as he swung his racket forcefully back in retaliation. "That was the problem!"

"Grr, you fat-headed boy. When did your head get so fat, hmm? Probably all that cramming you've been doing lately," she said, as she produced a Serena-like grunt, hitting the ball deftly.

"Geez, when will these two just give up?" said one of the onlookers, melting in the midday heat. The two tennis players had gathered quite a crowd. Even a drinks vendor had popped up from somewhere, making a killing from thirsty spectators. If a strawberries and cream seller popped up it would have been just like Wimbledon, except for the complete lack of a sportsman's noble demeanour.

"I think if you look very closely, you can see a vein bulge on Shinji's forehead just as Asuka insults him," Toji said and everyone who heard paid extra attention to look for it.

"Hahahahaha, you call that a backh-", she hit the ball back and exhaled, "b-b-backhand. My dead Oma had more strength than that even near the end!"

A unanimous cry of support for Toji's theory erupted from the crowd. Asuka, puzzled, turned her head for a moment and never even saw the second bounce.

"Would you stop bringing up your dead Grandmother every five seconds and concentrate on the game. I'd like to finish it before your "bad leg" forces me to surrender yet another match to you."

A Year Seven child, the perpetual ball boy of high school, tossed another ball to Shinji.

"Well I suppose you think you're clever? Distracting a girl with your lofty rhetoric. I bet the entire crowd is in your pocket, cheering you on. Well you won't be victorious this day, Shinji Ikari."

Asuka had a mind that excelled in the pressure of the moment and a body which had endured more gruelling workouts than the present match. If she wanted to, she could ward off challenges from veterans of sports she had not played to mental tests she was unaccustomed to. Rarely, however, did she wish to work so hard at matters she deemed so trivial. Yet the pleasure of besting a competitor who so sorely wished to win made her want to triumph in this case and so she raised her game and beat Shinji Ikari into a 6-2 submission in the third set, winning the match.

As she won, Asuka jumped into the air in celebration and people rushed to her side to congratulate her. She lapped it up before remembering her beaten opponent and moved over to Shinji to shake his hand.

"C'mon, I'll buy you an ice cream. You took your sweet time in buckling this time around," she said to him. He knew Asuka well enough to realise that this was a compliment coming from her. Truly, he did not mind losing to her at all.

* * *

Shinji walked into his room, throwing his heavy bag crammed with revision guides on to the floor. He had used the remainder of the day to study at the library and his hand ached from the constant scribbling of notes combined with the exasperating game of tennis. He collapsed onto his bed and closed his eyes.

"Mom, when's tea going to be ready?" he shouted down to the kitchen.

"In about ten minutes, honey. Don't rush me. I don't work well that way!"

The smell of spices and beef drifted in from the kitchen and he could hear her mixing the powder in, confirming that the curry was almost ready. His last exam was two days away and Shinji had been revising very hard in preparation for it, going to the library almost every day. He couldn't study in his own house. _'There's barely enough room to swing a cat,'_ he thought and cringed upon acknowledgement of using such a cliché idiom.

It was true. Shinji's house was generally quite hectic. His mother had been enjoying her singledom recently, joining a reading society and a Weight Watchers club even though she didn't really read and definitely did not need to lose any weight. He sensed that she was trying to make new friends. Gendo had always exercised his control over her life, isolating her away from college and work associates during their marriage. After the divorce, her newfound freedom encouraged her to rekindle these connections and she had begun to seek out old and new friends alike.

Shinji looked outside. It was raining for the first time in weeks. The summer months were supposed to be warm and humid yet the sky was littered with dark clouds with little light capable of penetrating the gloom above. The encroaching darkness made the outside world seem a much colder place.

Lately a dark presence seemed to hang over the entire house itself. Yui, for whom home was a natural domain, had felt it more than Shinji. Strange whirring noises in the night would wake her up; she felt eyes on her skin when she disrobed in her bedroom; and she could swear she was being watched, only to turn around to see nobody there. It was the feeling that the heart knows deep down to be true whilst the head denies until there is physical proof; and so Yui, being a scientist in both heart and mind, cast it aside to deal with more pressing matters.

"Tea's ready!"

"I'll be down in a minute!" replied Shinji, his gaze still firmly concentrated on the skyline. '_One night of rain will do us good,'_ he thought. His gaze fell to the street below. A figure in a trenchcoat stood waiting at a bus stop. Shinji could not make out their face due to poor lighting and the ever-falling rain but he could see that their head was facing up at him. _'Nosy sod with nothing better to do than stare at me while they wait for a bus. I won't give them the satisfaction.'_ And with that Shinji ran downstairs to eat, utterly famished and not at all disconcerted by the stranger in or outside of the house. Perhaps if Shinji was not as mentally tired he would have realised that there were no more bus services that evening.

* * *

**Editor's note part deux:**Stay tuned for the next chapter, which will be based at the Open Evening. I plan to write about the "mystery man" (surely you can guess who this is? :P), Gendo + Rei, Gendo + "guests" and Asuka finally talking to Shinji about what she saw Rei doing in his house.


	8. Idle Hands

**Idle hands**

Rei's fingers danced over the piano keys. Like her, they did not linger in one place long enough to be notable. Rather, it was the sum of their endeavours that produced a worthwhile piece. As she played Chopin, she did not think of the struggle between her loyalty to her maleficent lover and her loyalty to her friends. She emptied her mind too of the maths exam next week and how she never did learn to factorise quadratic equations. No thoughts at all, not even a murmur, bounced around inside her skull as she moved those hands about effortlessly on the aged keys. And therein lay the beauty of it.

"You look lovely right now."

She continued playing whilst the warm and tender frequencies of the old piano filled the room.

"Come over here and kiss me."

Still no response.

He approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Care to give us a rendition tonight?"

She turned to face him and her whole demeanour changed in a 90 degree rotation of her head; the plaything had resumed occupancy. "I'm sure you know I favour a very different kind of performing art".

"Yes, but I don't think we can show that on stage, dear".

"Well I'm sure some of the attendees have seen and done far worse". She stood up on her heels and stretched up toward the ceiling before gradually unfurling herself over him, more pole dancer than pianist. "Now," she said as she ran a finger down his body, "did you come to see me because you like making compliments or because you need to be relaxed for this evening?"

"Well, I've always tried to foster good staff-student relations," he said as the corners of his mouth rose to form a harlequin smile.

"Certainly, sir," and she fell to her knees in subservience.

"No time for that now, kid. I want you to see to it that all your wonderful peers are kept in the hall and at the front of the operation tonight. No little shits are to wander backstage. Be sure to keep them away from my office at all times, you understand?"

She nodded to assure him and rose to her feet.

"Good," he said. "I'm trusting you with this because you have always performed well for me in the past." He lifted her chin. "And I trust that you will continue on in this way. Marks are not easily erased off of such a fine body of work." He let the moment linger before removing her from his space and edging towards the piano. "I think I am going to have this thing scrapped."

"Yes but I use this, Gendo."

"It has a horrible tone, _Rei. _You can always use one of the many newer ones I had purchased. I may not play the piano but I am told they are superior to this piece of junk. Would you not be happier playing in the central music room rather than here, where there is no air conditioning and not even a goddamned window?"

"In case you didn't notice I am trying to maintain a mild complexion."

To demonstrate his anger at her unusual display of indignation, he took out pliers from his pocket and waltzed round the piano. He made her watch as he opened the chest and cut string upon string, knowing that she could do nothing to fight for its life. Each time, he peered upwards to bathe in her misery as an artery was severed and watched as her listless eyelids sunk further downwards. Finally, he glanced up and saw she had conceded defeat – the eyes were closed. Her silent feet walked her outside of the room.

Gendo looked down at the piano and began to play 'Chopsticks'. His hands darted back and forth but he could not keep the rhythm the basic tune needed and sweat began to gather at his brow. A stagnant air circulated round and round the room until he acknowledged the poor syncopation and drove his stretched-out hands into the keyboard. He rose and petted the top of the piano case. "Don't worry, you can find solace in the notion that no energy can ever be destroyed, merely transformed," he whispered, "and, if you never were one for physics, know that, in plain terms, I've always thought you would make excellent firewood." He slammed the lid of the piano down as if it were a coffin and its contents displeasing.

As soon as he had left she returned to play one final piece. Even though tears fell upon the piano that day, the maimed instrument created a melody more joyous than ever before. Some keys never spoke again but their sound would always resonate in her mind. If Gendo had buried the body, Rei had raised its spirit up toward a new, lofty resting place.

* * *

Dignitaries and guests filled the gym like a hive of bees settling into a new nest; although the surroundings were unfamiliar, their innate programming soon eased them into their new environment. The bees' networking skills with one another was uncanny and they eagerly went to work exchanging business cards whilst dining on hors d'oeuvres, all with the consummate skill of seasoned professionals.

Hikari marvelled at the walking suits and skirts. Her eyes widened at their confidence, basked in their million-watt smiles, and round about popped out of her head when they discussed what they did for a living.

"Chair of a private health organisation."

"Editor of a leading newspaper."

"Diplomat. I'm currently operating out of Argentina, you know."

She turned to Asuka, a last minute draft to help finish the set-up of the event. "Now why do you suppose all of these random officials have come to see what is in store for little ol' Carthage High, ay? What does the government of Argentina care if those nanny state officials decide to ban Coca Cola at lunch?" Hikari nodded towards a huddle of school governors.

Asuka put down a set of napkins and looked around. "Promise you can keep a secret?"

"Is Lizzy Bennet a nightmare prototype model for the feminist regime?"

"Who? The new goth chick?"

"Scratch that. Go on."

"Ikari's planning something big and I think he's using this whole Principal gig as a cover."

"Like what, running for MP? The man may act presidential but he's not exactly got the makings of a young…" she paused and eyed Gendo up and down, "okay, _middle-aged_ Winston Churchill. Hmm, maybe Putin fits better."

"Haven't you ever thought it was ultra shady how our old Principal just disappeared and was quickly replaced with this man whose goal in life it is to make our days at school complete hell?"

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "He's a teacher. He's designed to make our life hell."

Asuka did not like being rebuffed by her best friend, who was usually happy to agree with whatever words spilled forth unmoderated from the redhead's mouth. "Listen, do you really think these men and women came from all distant parts of the globe for this crappy Open Evening? They're here because he's given them some kind of major incentive to come and when the champagne cocktails have been downed and the formalities of the evening done away with, he's going to reveal to them exactly what they came all this way for."

"Hey, I spent all day working on this _crappy_ Open Evening. Maybe if you spent half of your time doing something constructive with your life instead of twirling your hair you wouldn't dream up with these conspiracy theories. Last month you swore Zac Efron was a brainwashed homosexual. Now this. I am really getting tired of buzzing around Miss High School Queen Bee like I give a damn." Hikari caught the sight of guests needing to be welcomed. "You fester here in the rabbit hole, I'm going topside".

* * *

Shinji eyeballed her from across the room, looking over that figure with an unaccustomed eagerness. It seemed to him that she often resembled a porcelain doll, made up to the nines with no party to go to. He longed for his hands to be caressing her now, for hands are eternally jealous of being unable to touch what the eyes can see freely. Shinji was falling in lust with the most beautiful woman in the room: Asuka. He walked around the edge of the hall but, alas, by the time he had got to where she had been standing even the eyes could not see her anymore for she had left the hall for an even prettier pursuit: trying to gain entry to the headmaster's office.

* * *

Raucous applause emanated from the hall as Hikari stood outside and listened. 'Pulled it off. A complete success,' she thought to herself as she mentally stored her achievement for mention in a future résumé. 'Asuka is a complete bitch for trying to steal the limelight from _my_ moment.' Her thoughts lingered over Asuka's mention of Gendo's appointment as Principal. 'We never did hear from Mr Murray again. Upping and leaving like that does seem strange, but not strange enough to warrant such deluded fantasies.'

There are many tests that a learned student can excel at within the safe confines of the exam hall. Yet, numerous hours filled with study can also be spent learning the worldly wisdom which can only come from cold winter mornings warmed by the newest salacious gossip or idle summer afternoons spent lying down on baking hot earth with friends, staring up at the sky talking about beach houses and bikinis. When people were outside socialising, Hikari was inside living vicariously through an Enid Blyton novel. But Rei, who she walked towards now with a wrinkled-up nose, knew all too well the façade of manipulative men. She stood playing chords in thin air on a windowsill opposite Ikari's office.

"You know you'd fare much better with a piano under those fingers?"

Rei turned her head to acknowledge her before turning back to resume play. Hikari shook her head and carried onwards in her diligent patrol. 'Another Disney princess. Maybe Asuka and Rei have more in common than they think'.

Asuka Langley Soryu was always in fights from an early age. Even with a do-over at life, she still fought like the proverbial second child, always in the middle of someone else's business. But she had grown tired of the animosity between herself and Rei, who she looked at recently with sympathetic eyes. 'Never should have gotten to know that wench,' she thought as she smiled at her, the little girl lost. Still, she knew she would not let her through without a fight, for the headmaster seemed to have now tied her leash to his door handle.

"Rei, whatcha doing?"

"Thinking."

"You're always alone with your thoughts. Why don't you be alone with me for a change?" she winked at her.

"I'm not sure if either of us would find that bearable."

"Oh," Asuka was affronted by her honesty but she was trying to control her tongue. "Well, you're shivering."

'Maybe it's because I have ice coursing through my veins,' Rei thought.

"Here, take my cardigan. I have like a million of 'em at home anyway. Mom always used to say to me I could never be cold on account of my blood boiling at just about anything. I used to throw a tantrum daily, even when I only wanted to get her attention for a moment. I guess when something works you don't feel like changing it, huh?"

Sometimes a simple act of kindness and a little honesty can mend bridges not only broken but long since abandoned.

"Thank you, Asuka. It-it's lovely." She felt as warm as all the times the piano's notes had surrounded and buffered her from the world.

"Why don't you go and get a drink and some snacks from the cafeteria? I hear they're still serving free pizza!" Asuka said to her. She had given her cardigan without thought of her ultimate goal but she was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Hey, erm, would you like to hang out sometime or have one of those infamous sleepovers I hear you and those other girls are always having? You know I'm not as light and fluffy as the rest of you but I did pick up a copy of Cosmopolitan once." The girls laughed and chatted awhile before Rei pottered off down the hall to the canteen. The day had been flipped right around and she felt good again. Unfortunately, it would not last long.

Asuka approached the door and tried to open it.

"Locked," she muttered and raised her hand to scratch her temple. She got a credit card out of her wallet and tried to lift the lock of the door open with it to no avail. She heard Shinji's big clown feet coming towards her down the corridor, looking for her in the hopes of finally telling her how he felt. She saw him with a different thought in mind.

"Shinji!" she whispered. The vestibule between the corridor and the door meant he couldn't hear accurately where the sound was coming from and he continued on past her. She ran out to the hallway.

"Shinji!" she said, slightly louder than before. Nada.

"Shinji!" she screamed, less stealthy than a steam train.

"Oh there you are. Listen, I've been meaning to tell you something and I've just got to get it ou-"

Asuka pulled him into her. "I'm trying to break in to your Dad's office. Don't suppose you have a spare set of keys?"

"What the hell? I-I-I-I was trying to tell you something serious and this-this is what comes out of your mouth?"

"Save it, baka. You can tell me another time. Now help me out here, I've got an idea."

Shinji was sure he had heard something like this come out of her mouth before. It never usually ended favourably for either of them.

Asuka started to move a couch underneath a small, open window which connected through to Gendo's office.

He saw what she was aiming to do and aided her.

"Good, now you keep watch, baka!"

"Whaa?"

"Well you don't suppose your lanky frame will fit through that, do you? Besides, you're about as supple as an old mare's teat on a frosty morning."

"Fine, but you're still going to need a leg-up."

She stood on his hands then hoisted herself up to the window.

'Must not look up, must not look up, must not look up,' he repeated before buckling and sneaking a peak under her skirt. 'A little piece of heaven!' Suddenly, the lights above them went out.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Asuka fell and landed in the headmaster's office on the other side. "What was that?"

"A blackout I think." He went into the main corridor to take a look. Every light had gone off and there was no lights coming from the hall anymore. Judging from the noise coming out of the hall, the whole school's electricity had gone off.

"Yep, everything's off."

"Well, that's just fantastic. I'm here through the looking-glass and there's not even a light to guide my way."

"Listen, just get out of there!"

"No way. There's some streetlight coming in. I'll just use that until my eyes adjust. Just keep an eye out. Still, it's not like your own Dad can suspend you, ja?"

"Do you remember what he is even like?"

"Ssssh. Now what's this?"

Footsteps approached the vestibule thick and fast and flashlights started to shine through the windows.

'Multiple people,' Shinji thought and dove under the couch.

"This way, through here."

"I take it the rest of your evening won't be so bleak, hmm Mr. Ikari?"

Shinji tried to look but could only see feet and trousers from his position. He counted four pairs of feet.

"Of course not, Marcus. I wouldn't have you come all this way for nothing now, would I? I can restore power if I can get to my office for a set of keys. Please excuse me whilst I find them."

Shinji could not see Gendo's face but he could tell he was trying to paint his face with that grim smile - the only one he held in repertoire.

'Oh shit! Asuka!' Shinji thought.

The redhead had heard their steps coming and looked around the room. There was nothing below the window on this side that she could move in time to get out and there were no cupboards or closets she could hide in. She went to the windows and tried to yank them upwards. They did not budge. Panic set in as she frantically glanced over the room, her eyes still adjusting to the darkness. All she could feel was her heartbeat in her head.

The keys turned and the door opened.


	9. Hole

**Hole**

She held her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes.

Gendo rummaged through his desk, searching feverishly in each drawer. Post-it notes, meeting minutes, transcripts and more pens than he would ever need or could possibly make use out of but no damned key. He crouched to get a better angle for putting his arm into one of the drawers.

She could feel his breath on her. The rummaging had stopped. Was he looking at her right then and there? Her eyes had sealed shut in fear. She imagined his hands pulling her out by the hair from under his desk - her current hiding place - and then gripping her around the neck. There would be no hope for mercy; no trepidation at this unspeakable act lurking behind his glassy stare. He would remove the air from her lungs and discard her to one side to resume his search. A feeling of death would inhabit the room, hurriedly skulking away once it realised the headmaster's unremarkable office would not house any taint that may prove noticeable to others.

The hand grasped a cool, hard object at the back of one of the drawers and pulled it free of its paper-clad confines. Gendo rose from his crouched position and closed the drawer. She did not even dare breathe a sigh of relief, remaining motionless in her self-made prison. He walked towards the door, pausing as he seized the knob. One single, drawn out exhalation followed before he exited, locking the door as he went.

She removed her hand from her mouth and opened her eyes. Darkness. The streetlights outside had seemingly gone out now as well. Trusting her mind's eye, she found her way to the door.

"Are you there, Shinji?"

Silence.

"Stop messing with me and help me out." She twisted the knob from side to side to no avail. "We need to get out of this school right now, you prat. I found something that spoke in nonsensical riddles but even I understood the part that said that 'all hell is going to break loose on this, our darkest night'. Think that poncey poetic shit may tie in to our current lightless situation, yeah?" No answer.

'Shit,' she thought. She got a chair and placed it under the window. The thought that Gendo would surely realise someone had been in his office did not faze her; she had to get out and get out now. She hoisted her body up and through the tight space with the consummate ease of a gymnast. Her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the darkness and she searched the best she could for her boy. No Shinji under the couch, no Shinji behind the vestibule doors, no Shinji full stop.

Asuka moved out into the hallway. The din still emanating from the hall provided a small comfort. She breathed and closed her eyes. Would they believe her if she told them all to get out? No proof - the incriminating piece of paper was left behind in haste. She could not think straight for all the thoughts circling like a maelstrom inside her head and picking up speed every time she tried to calm them down. She moved to the windowsill to gather her composure. Air came in through her nose and filled her lungs. Oxygen flowed into her arteries and onwards to its final destination. Waste material left her body through her nose and mouth. She lived this normally unconscious process and it quieted her.

Opening her eyes, she looked out beyond the glass into the abyss. A single ray of light shone back at her, red in hue, and danced from her window to the next. One may have believed it to be a sublime glimmer of hope. The abyss answered this query with a shower of glass, as bullets ripped through the hallway windows and glass hailed onto the concrete floor below. The redhead sunk to the floor as her heartbeat picked up speed. One by one, the laser sight hovered over a window, and the sound of gunfire and breaking glass rang in her ears, soon joined by screams from the caged animals in the main hall.


	10. Battery Farming

**Battery Farming  
**

"What the hell is going on?"

Blood splattered across his pristine white shirt from the Argentinean diplomat, whose chest had been perforated by burst fire. The questioning man looked on as the diplomat fell to the floor. Before he could get a response, he too had hit the ground, blood seeping out of his ears. The last thing he saw before his lot was up was the gunman's muzzle flash.

Bodies lay about the hall like fallen dominoes, never to rise, never to be set up again. Teenagers had been hired as waiters by Hikari. She had helped one boy straighten his bow tie. A peachy-faced lad of fourteen, he had been told by her it would aid his pursuit of that waiting job at the local café. It was crooked now, pulled by the boy in an effort to breathe after he had been shot in the throat. He lay motionless, crumpled over unused napkins.

Hikari had watched him be mown down from her hiding place behind the gym mats. Her face was stained with foreign and home blood alike, all equal in the eyes of the gunman.

Most people were pulling at the main entrance's door handles, banging at the doors in desperation. They were locked. Chairs and tables were strewn everywhere. Some had been thrown against the windows and, indeed, they had shattered the glass but could do little against the outside steel grilles. Used to protect against thieves, they had prevented escape.

The gunman turned his head to one side and closed his eyes, listening to the guinea pigs squeal. No-one had dared to challenge him, no-one had risen to fight him and no-one had made an impact on his psyche.

'I would have done better,' he thought. He climbed out of the one window without a steel grille.

* * *

Asuka had no idea of the massacre in the main hall as she ran crouched under the windows. The gunfire had stopped. When she was out of sight of the windows, she straightened her back and tugged at a door. Locked. She tried another. Locked. And another. All locked. She tried the maths corridor. Surely they had to be open? Gendo would have arranged a tour so the guests could see the new computer suite. No door budged. Her brow and back were sticky with sweat. She ran back down the corridor and straight into a boy with long hair.

"Oh thank God. Come on, we've got to get out. I've tried down that corridor but it's all locked. Where did you come from? Is it safe?"

"I ran from a man carrying a gun. I don't know. Please help me, I've got to get out."

"It's okay, we'll find a way. Come with me, let's try down here. I would bet on my Oma's grave that cheapskate Gendo left the locker room doors unlocked. Sure, protect your precious computers but don't worry about all our belongings."

Not even an inkling of a smile on his face. Poor boy was probably in shock.

'I'm petrified and still able to be witty. Okay, best not dwell on my superiority just yet," she thought. She grabbed his hand and they made their way right down the last corridor. At the end of it was the locker room. The knob turned in her hands.

"Gott sei Dank!"

She motioned him into the room first and looked down the corridor. Not a sound could be heard. She moved into the room and shut the door behind them.

"There's no lock on this door. We're going to have to move one of these lockers up against it."

"Why?"

"To stop anyone getting in. Who knows how many of those freaks are out there."

"What about the other students? We need to leave the door open in case they're out there."

"Did you see anyone coming out of the main hall? I sure as hell didn't. In fact, you're the first person I've seen. Now help me move one of these lockers."

"That's really selfish of you, Asuka."

"No, I'm thinking with my head. Wait, how do you know my name?"

"You don't think I know who the most popular girl in school is?"

"I know everyone in this school, every exchange student, every teaching assistant - especially the cute ones - and I've never seen you before in my life. Who the hell are you?"

He put his hands behind his back and removed a gun from his waistband, pointing it at her, "Damn, they said you were smart but you really got me. Nevermind, at least we can cut the crap. Turn around, hands on your head."

She had reached a state beyond fear. "I should have known. Nobody with that mane could have a healthy social life. God, to think I tried to help y-"

"Shut your fucking mouth and turn around, bitch!"

She complied. "Feel good to say those things to a woman?"

"You have no idea who you're dealing with. You go round with your phone glued to your braindead skull. You talk all day to anyone who will listen about things that don't matter. Nothing you have ever said has been of worth. And now you think you can judge me? Fuck you. I'm going to enjoy putting you out of your misery. Move over by the benches, I want you to sit and pray."

She walked over to the benches and sat down. She went to put her hands in her pocket.

"What have you got there? A can of mace? You think that's gonna hurt me from over here?"

She pulled out a nail file. "Gotta do something of use while I'm stuck here, eh?" She stretched out her hand in front of her, deciding which finger was in dire need of repair.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I've got a gun pointed at your face and you sit there doing your nails. This could be your last moment alive on Earth!"

"And you think I should spend it doing what you wish? No effing way." She looked at his face. "Besides, I don't think you have the guts, if I'm being honest." She looked around at the windows, eyeing an escape route. All were covered in the damned steel grilles Gendo had insisted on installing when he became Principal.

"I'll fucking doing it, don't tell me I won't." He walked towards her and placed the gun square in her face.

Her eyes looked up at him. He couldn't have been older than fourteen or fifteen. She looked beyond him. "I don't think you should be throwing your life away on this. There are things beyond this room, beyond you and me, beyond whatever you've done in the hall. Trust me, you won't feel any better killing me than you did them."

"You think that was me? Hahaha. I'm not the only one involved in thi-" The fire extinguisher hit him before he could finish.

"Misato?"

"Even I'd had enough of his megalomaniac bullshit and I teach history for a living."

They embraced. Misato held her redhead student close while she cried tears of relief.

"There's some others housed in the Graphics block. The hall is sealed off. The prick was right," she kicked him in the sides, partly to check he was out cold and partly to plain kick him in the sides, "there's a few crackhead students trying to be Rambo. Or beat Cho's high score, I don't know. I rang for the police and they're on their way."

Asuka wiped her eyes. "What are we going to do about him?"

"Leave him, he won't wake up before the police arrive. C'mon, there may be others we can still help."

"Have you seen Shinji?"


End file.
